Reuters Friday March 15, 2024
The U.S. House of Representatives overwhelmingly passed a bill on Wednesday that would give TikTok's Chinese owner ByteDance about six months to divest the U.S. assets of the short-video app, or face a ban. The bill passed 352-65 in a bipartisan vote, but it faces a more uncertain path in the Senate, notes Reuters. The bill’s House backers say China could use TikTok’s powerful algorithm to feed its users political propaganda, but, notes The New Tok Times, TikTok says the concerns are baseless, explaining that some 60 percent of the company is owned by global institutional investors.
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David Schonauer Friday March 15, 2024
Talk about a royal mess-up: After weeks of speculation on the whereabouts of Kate Middleton, the Princess of Wales, Kensington Palace released an image on Sunday showing her with her three children.
It was reportedly the first mage of the princess to be released since she underwent abdominal surgery in January, but rather than reassuring the public about her health, the photo set off … Read the full Story >>
The Guardian Thursday March 14, 2024
Advances in AI have been touted by big tech companies and the United Nations as a way to help ameliorate global heating, via tools that help track deforestation, identify pollution leaks and track extreme weather events. AI is already being used to predict droughts in Africa and to measure changes to melting icebergs. But, notes The Guardian, a coalition of environmental groups — the Climate Action against Disinformation— has warned that AI technology will instead likely cause rising energy use and turbocharge the spread of climate disinformation.
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CNN Thursday March 14, 2024
“I have been documenting humanity around the world for the last 30-plus years in so many countries and when I first learned that modern-day slavery existed, I was struck by the very idea that I didn’t know. My whole occupation is based on seeing others, and I totally missed it.” So notes photographer Lisa Kristine, who has recently been photographing child labor from South Asia to West Africa. “I felt like, gosh, if I didn’t know it exists, how many others don’t know?” Kristine tells CNN ahead of #MyFreedomDay.
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